Hi,
Whaley Bridge Town Council(WBTC) have for many years been trying to get a bridge built from the Tesco side of the river Goyt into the Bingswood Industrial Estate(BIE) in Whaley Bridge, in order to open that land up for development and job creation. In turn, once the existing HGV access route through the Canal Basin is removed, it becomes possible to access heritage grants and achieve our other goal of transforming the canal basin into an iconic heritage and community point around the Grade2* Transhipment Warehouse, Canal Basin, and historic Cromford and High Peak Railway Terminus.
There is much that can be done in an interim period to improve the canal basin area around the Transhipment warehouse, but of course it all has to be done with the active help and agreement of British Waterways, who are the owners of the building and the land, including the tarmaced road area in front of the Transhipment warehouse. However substantial heritage development in that area is very unlikely to be possible or practical while HGV's are still passing in front of it on a regular basis to access Bingswood Industrial Estate.
In 2010 we were within a whisker of achieving our primary goal of a Bridge, when, with all funding identified, the price of some land was increased from £300K to £1M. There was no time to respond to this new demand, and with deadlines on the existing funding expiring, the project consequently collapsed in June. This was a huge blow, all the more so because we had been so close to our goal. Subsequently, in Mar 2011, High Peak Borough Council decided to stop financial support for all the Regeneration partnerships which it had set up across the Borough, Whaley Bridge Regeneration Partnership amongst them.
The desire of WBTC, under my Chairmanship, to pursue alternative access into BIE and to transform the Canal Basin area remains unabated, and in July this year, 2011, WBTC set up the Bingswood Access and Canal Basin Regeneration Panel. The first meeting was in August. The new Group consists of Cllr Martin Thomas(Chair), Cllr Linda leather ( Vice Chair), Cllr Anne Winters(Secretary), Cllr John Swift, Cllr Rodney Gilmour and myself.
As many will know, British Waterways have been going through a transformation of structure towards charitable status, and in April 2012 will become the Canal and River Trust. The ongoing internal changes within BW have made communication, planning and decision making between BW and others difficult, but we now have some good contacts and hope that post April we can start to use those to get some positive improvements to the Canal Basin area happening.
The Bingswood Access and Canal Basin Regeneration Panel was set up to try and concentrate on the two major long term projects in the town. Whaley 4Wards, which is the other group set up last year, aims to concentrate on smaller more achievable short term regeneration projects around Whaley Bridge. There will inevitably be some overlap between the two around the Canal Basin. W4W has already carried out a ltterpick around the Canal Basin for example, and treework on the Coronation Rowans is being considered once BW are in agreement.
Whaley Bridge Town Council has never abandoned the Canal Basin or the desperately required access into Bingswood. There is work going on in the background, but certainly as far as major outcomes are concerned these things do not happen overnight, and a long process has to be followed wherby all the stakeholders have to buy in and agree, and then the funding has to be found. The original funding sources for a second bridge have gone, so that process has to be started anew.
The smaller things, like the repairs to the canal towpath, cleaning up of the TSW and area around it, and potential use of some of the land for car parking, I hope we can try to achieve beyond April this Year, once BW changes to the Canal and River Trust and things settle down.
Note that there is still £100K of S106 Tesco money available towards construction of a bridge. This is available until August 2015, beyond which it is lost. It cannot be used for anything else.
High Peak Borough Council changed their mind about funding of regeneration groups, and now provide some annual funding to WBTC based on the fact that we have set up BACBRP and W4W.
I hope this helps to explain what is going on.
This should not stop individuals from contacting BW directly about anything. Please continue to do this. Regarding a friends of the canal basin group, I am wary that if there are too many groups working seperately, that mixed messages may end up at BW leading to confusion and lack of progress. Equally, a friends group could prove extremely useful to call upon to help carry out simple work in the area, once agreement is reached with BW , and could influence BW in their approach by demonstrating the passion and interest that people in Whaley have about the Canal basin area.
Cheers
Jon
